U.S. men

Arena provides few surprises with Confederations Cup roster.

By Robert Wagman
SoccerTimes

(Friday, May 30, 2003) -- There were few surprises among the 23 players United States coach Bruce Arena selected to take to the Confederations Cup in France.

Most of the players chosen have represented the U.S. in the various friendlies since the first of the year. There are some omissions because of injuries and personal reasons with those places on the roster taken by players who otherwise would not have made the final list.

The squad will begin training camp in Washington, D.C. on June 1, face New Zealand in Richmond, Va., June 8 and depart June 11 for the Americans' Confederations Cup home base in Lyon, France. The tournament will start June 18 and conclude with the final in Paris on June 29.

The U.S. opens Group B play June 19 against Turkey in St. Etienne, then faces Brazil June 21 in Lyon and ends the opening round against Cameroon June 23 in Lyon.

"We have selected a group of players that combines experience and youth," said Arena, who has led the U.S. to a 4-1-1 record in 2003, in a press release. "The Confederations Cup presents a great challenge to our team and an opportunity to compete against some of the best countries in the world. For many of these players, it will be their first experience in a competition of this caliber, so the games can only benefit our group as we progress towards World Cup qualifying in 2004."

Ten players chosen were on the 2002 World Cup roster -- Landon Donovan, Eddie Pope, Gregg Berhalter, Earnie Stewart, Eddie Lewis, Steve Cherundolo. Pablo Mastroeni, Frankie Hejduk, DaMarcus Beasley and Clint Mathis. Sixteen of the 23 play in Major League Soccer with the MetroStars, Columbus Crew and Chicago Fire each contributing three players.

Missing is striker Brian McBride, who is remaining home because his wife is expecting a baby in the next few weeks. Also missing is midfielder\defender John O'Brien, who has suffered a flare-up of the left Achilles heel injury that kept him out of the lineup at Ajax Amsterdam for much of this season.

Midfielder Claudio Reyna, is still recovering from left knee surgery and will not be ready to play for at least another month. Defender Tony Sanneh continues to have back problems and is not training. Forward Josh Wolff has not yet worked himself back to fitness from a nagging right hamstring problem that has limited him to three games and two starts for his new MLS club, the Kansas City Wizards.

The goalkeeping corps is interesting. Brad Friedel, the top keeper in England's Premier League this past season, is taking the summer off to rest after a grueling 12 months. Kasey Keller is recovering from minor surgery on both elbows and will not be ready to play until the Gold Cup in July. So the MetroStars' Tim Howard, probably number three on the depth chart, is going as the likely Confederations Cup starter.

Arena was under a lot of pressure from MLS coaches not to take their keepers to sit the bench in France for as long as a month, so he is taking two who play in Europe -- Joe Cannon (Lens, France) and Marcus Hahnemann (Reading, England) as his backups. Hahnemann had a extremely good year in the English First Division, helping propel his team into the promotion playoffs, and this will give Arena a chance to evaluate his future in the national team pool.

Probably, the most notable absence from the roster is Los Angeles Galaxy attacker Cobi Jones. He did not figure to be in the starting 11 and removing him from his MLS team for a month to sit on the bench in France was to be avoided. The same probably holds true for striker Ante Razov, who was suspended in MLS, then injured, and is just now working his way back into the Chicago Fire's starting side.

It is important to keep in mind that just because a player was named to this roster does not mean he will even dress for a match in France. It is also likely that Arena will start different lineups for all three preliminary-round matches, depending on his tactics and who is fit and available. But 22 players are needed to scrimmage and some players likely will get long looks in training even if they do not fit into Arena's match plans.

The four alternates named by Arena -- New England Revolution midfielder Steve Ralston, Kansas City defender Nick Garcia, San Jose Earthquakes midfielder Richard Mulrooney and defender Cory Gibbs of Germany's FC St. Pauli -- will be called into camp only to replace an injured player.

Alternates (4): Defender Nick Garcia (Kansas City), defender Cory Gibbs (FC St. Pauli, Germany), midfielder Richard Mulrooney (San Jose), midfielder Steve Ralston (New England).

Robert Wagman is SoccerTimes senior correspondent and can be e-mailed at bobwagman@soccertimes.com.